


short skirts and hawaiian shirts

by crinkledpages



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: (but both too blind to see it), Alternate Universe - College/University, Frat Boy! AU, Friends With Benefits, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Outfits inspired by JohnJae W Korea shoot because why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:14:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24051157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crinkledpages/pseuds/crinkledpages
Summary: johnjae as frat boys who are both roommates and friends with benefits. who developfeelings. that's it. that's really the fic.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 22
Kudos: 324





	short skirts and hawaiian shirts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonfleur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonfleur/gifts).



> For the wonderful moonfleur, who said _johnjae frat boys fwb :) [fellas is it gay to kiss the homies]_ and I took it and went with it, and who also came up with the title and did up my beautiful moodboard because I'm useless. What did I even contribute to this really.
> 
> for the purpose of this fic, everyone's age doesn't follow canon. Also, all Chicago references have been taken from the most reliable source ever: NCT127 HIT THE STATES, Chicago stop.

There’s a ridiculously brightly patterned Hawaiian shirt balled up at the side of his bed – his? Maybe, maybe not. It’s too hard to think. Empty beer bottles and red cups alike litter the desk and floor. Used cigarettes have been crushed into crumbles of grey ash on his philosophy lecture notes.  _ Fuck, Ten, really? You couldn’t reach just a little farther for the ashtray? _

Rolling onto his side, Johnny hums a low groan and throws the covers over his head. If he doesn’t look at it, then he won’t need to deal with it. Maybe. Probably not, if Jaehyun has his way. Ugh. 

The seven am sun peeks through a tiny slit between their plain cream curtains. The thin beam stabs into his eyes, and he almost sobs out loud at the spike of pain shooting to his head. 

Yesterday’s ragtag stream of dancing on tables, knocking back endless vodka shots interspersed with beer, and random makeout sessions with people he doesn’t even know had been a whirlwind of fun and a much-needed break after the midterms, but today was a completely different story. Sehun always throws the best parties, but the aftermath usually leaves him flat-out aching with regret, not to mention their house totally trashed. 

The door to his room slams open unceremoniously. This doesn’t help his headache  _ at all _ . He plays the rhythm of the footsteps through and knows immediately that it’s Jaehyun. Light and quick. 

His guess is confirmed when a familiar weight and the very specific scent of Le Labo’s Neroli 36 worms its way over him. Orange blossom bursts through his senses as a pair of legs comes to be half-tangled with the mess of blankets half-thrown over the Johnny-sized lump.

Johnny’s is a queen-sized bed, thankfully. He’d scored the biggest bed in the biggest room at the beginning of his second semester in second year – a gift from Sehun, his big. Previously Junmyeon and Sehun’s shared room, Sehun had let him have it when Junmyeon had graduated and the both of them had moved into Junmyeon’s upscale apartment in the heart of town. 

“Johnny.” Jaehyun’s voice is a muffled warble but they’ve both become so attuned to each other over the last two years as roommates that he picks apart the words with hardly any effort. 

“‘m tryna sleep, Jae.” It’s hard to speak over the alcohol-ridden cloud, but he tries anyway. 

“You promised me brunch at that new cafe today,” Jaehyun whines. He feels him push his nose into his shoulder blade while a hand creeps up and over the mound of blankets to where he supposes Johnny’s arm must be. 

Johnny doesn’t move, hoping that his non-reply will be enough to fend his roommate off him in search of a new target.

“Johnnyyyyy. Yoooo. Johnny Seoooooo.” 

The covers are flipped over to expose his topless chest, and Jaehyun promptly dives back on top of him. His fingers skate purposefully over bare skin until they slide over his ribcage. Johnny shivers and tells himself that it’s the lack of warmth from the loss of the blankets. 

“It’s seven am, Jae. This isn’t brunch time.” He shoves his head deeper into his pillow. 

“It’s ten, Seo.” A loud laugh cracks above him. “Now get up and pay attention to me.”

God, so he  _ had _ managed to snag a couple more hours of sleep, even though it hadn’t felt like it. 

His mouth is paper-dry, head buzzing with the remnants of the hangover. He licks his cracked lips and nestles further into the bed and back into the warmth of Jaehyun’s chest. 

“One hour.” 

“No. I’m horny now.” A head bumps against his, and Jaehyun wrestles his way through until he’s lying his full weight on top of Johnny. He winds both hands around his neck, forcing Johnny’s head to face him. He tilts his face up gently, stroking the sides softly before leaning forward so he can plant a short kiss on his lips. 

Johnny’s hands come up to grip the sides of Jaehyun’s body instinctively. His fingers press softly into his sides, massaging the smooth skin separated only by his thin jersey singlet that he usually wears to sleep. “Jae,” he fumbles out, trying to inject a warning into his tone but mostly failing. He’s still so tired, and each limb feels like he’s dragging a weight of lead up each side. 

Jaehyun simply leans back down again, unrelenting as he takes his bottom lip between his, sucking on it a little before biting down harshly with his teeth. Johnny groans deeply, fisting a hand in his hair to keep him there, and even finds the energy to wrap a leg around one of Jaehyun’s. 

Jaehyun knows that he’s won. They know each other’s bodies so well now. It’s an unspoken conversation that passes between them - a squeeze around a thigh (this is okay, this isn’t enough,  _ more _ ), a leg wrapped around the other (harder), a spate of kisses peppered along the jaw (I’m feeling like shit and need you so badly, need you  _ now _ ), a harsh tug of hands on hair (don’t stop) – it’s a map that they’ve covered a hundred times over, committing it to memory. 

This is why despite his sleep-worn state, with his eyes at half-mast and faculties still in a haze, Johnny is able to curl a loose hand around his neck. It’s just too easy to roll them over until he’s got Jaehyun caged in-between his arms and a leg slotted perfectly in the middle of his thighs.

God, he smells good. Notes of orange blossom, jasmine, and vanilla cling to his hair, his skin. He’s soft too. Skin smooth where his fingers tease, strands of dyed brown hair silky soft. Jaehyun grins, tilting his head up expectantly. He slides downward just a tiny bit, enough to press himself further against Johnny’s thigh. 

“Little shit.” He pinches him on the thigh, and Jaehyun presses down even harder. 

“You want it too.”

Johnny doesn’t deny it, merely returns it with a few deep kisses of his own, even mouthing along his jawline and scraping his teeth on his neck. Jaehyun keens and sighs into it. His hands slide up to scratch lightly on his arms – an encouragement.

It’s pure bliss – just the feeling of someone else’s warm skin against his, the heat, the building pleasure, and what feels like infinite time on their hands. Beneath him, Jaehyun’s eyes are crinkling into crescents, dimples digging deep indents into his cheek when he surges forward, greedily accepting all of Johnny’s slow, deep kisses. 

Fingers come up and over to drape on his neck, yanking him down for a deeper kiss. He pulls hard on the short hairs at his nape and bucks up even more into Johnny – a little too frenzied. 

Johnny curls his hands over where Jaehyun’s rest, stilling his movements and cutting the kiss short. 

“What’s wrong.”

Jaehyun whimpers at the loss immediately. He stretches up to swipe a lick across his lips. 

“Jae.”

“What.”

“ _ Jae _ .”

”I came here to make out, so would you please come back here?”

Johnny searches his eyes for another few seconds, but then Jaehyun has that stupid sultry smirk painted on his mouth, and Johnny has the urge to kiss it right off. So he growls and licks deep into his mouth, tongue sweeping across his teeth, pulling a series of squeals from Jaehyun. 

Kissing Jaehyun is always a heady feeling. It’s not that Johnny’s easy for Jaehyun, but that he knows that Jaehyun loves being kissed, and well, Johnny loves kissing him. So it works. Those tiny noises that escape him when he lets Johnny take control, the breathy sigh when he kisses him after they’ve both come down from their high, bodies wrapped around each other lazily post-coital. 

Johnny is just about to slide Jaehyun’s shirt up and off, a sliver of skin just peeking out from where his jersey has ridden up. But then a low grumble echoes from Jaehyun’s stomach, and he laughs. 

“Alright, alright, let’s go for brunch.”

Jaehyun’s eyes glint wickedly. “Sex after?” 

***

It’s always been so damn easy with Jaehyun.

No drama, no commitments, but always a good time. 

He’s never had an ideal type. Or rather, his ideal type was anybody hot who walked on two legs. Johnny Seo didn’t do commitment, and it had seemed like such a perfect match that Jung Jaehyun didn’t either. 

Johnny remembers exactly how it started. Sophomore year. End of first semester. The usual string of frat parties, starting with Chanyeol’s and ending at Junmyeon’s. The memory still burns brightly in his mind. 

Despite sharing the same room, Johnny had made his way downstairs first to welcome the first few guests, helping to set up the kegs and beer pong tables. Jaehyun had turned up fashionably late as always, throwing himself into the fray all too easily, because that was just how much he shined, even as a mere sophomore among all the older boys. 

He’d been sporting a garish red Hawaiian button-down with green palm trees splattered all around – hideous really. This had been thrown carelessly over a plain white tee and black jeans. This whole look screamed fashion faux pas, but Jaehyun had pulled it off, somehow. 

Then, hours later, flashes of strobe lights dancing across his eyes, and in-between bad decisions of rum and beer, Yongsun had told him she wanted to stop messing around, to date for real. And Johnny being Johnny, had turned her down. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t date, Yongsun. You know that.”

“You don’t know until you try.” God, she had looked so close to crying. Everyone knew Johnny Seo’s rule, but he was the kind of person everyone thought they could change, or wanted to be the person who could change him. 

“I don’t want to.”

Then Jaehyun had sidled into the space Yongsun had left, body propped against the wall, a flicker of danger dancing in his eyes, a reflection of Johnny’s. He’d always acknowledged just how alike they were, and at that moment, with the two of them looking at each other, that feeling had been compounded a hundredfold. 

“Lonely?”

Johnny had drained his cup of the terrible mixture and looked into those hooded eyes. Something passed between them, and a sudden spark of want had flared in the pit of his stomach. “Not anymore.”

Jaehyun had simply nodded, a knowing smile threatening to break through the downturn of his mouth. He’d downed his own cup and tilted his head towards the living room, where all the ruckus was. “Wanna dance? Yugyeom’s got a sick beat going.”

“I’m right behind you.” He had taken Jaehyun’s hand, warm from alcohol, and followed him into the crowd. Pulled him into the bedroom after, too. 

So here they are now, countless sober and drunken nights of fooling around later – not-just-roommates, definitely not boyfriends, but somewhere in between. Nothing was off-limits, and nothing was exclusive. Just the way they liked it.

***

Jaehyun sprints ahead of him, the act more unconscious than not. The cafe is just a turn of a corner away, tucked into a crook in the wall and obscured by coils of vines woven around the eaves. It was the sort of place that was conspicuous to the eye once you’d been there before, but very much hidden if you weren’t actively looking.

The interior is really to Jaehyun’s taste: gold-plated industrial pipes running the length of the sandpaper-coloured walls, bright yellow bulbs dangling in random patterns, round wooden tables with shiny metal legs scattered around the large expanse. Pitchers of water for two stand at the ready at each table. There’s even a winding staircase leading up to a second floor, and Johnny can see a peek of rows of bookshelves and plush bean bags arranged casually and invitingly. The aroma of freshly-brewed coffee hangs like an invisible fog. It’s nice. More than nice. 

It’s all clean, straight lines, with an equal touch of the rustic and the minimalist. Johnny thinks this might be his favourite pick of Jaehyun’s yet. It’s not really his scene as much as it is Jaehyun’s, but he can see himself coming here on the weekends to grab a cuppa just because. 

From the corner of his eye, he sees Jaehyun chat up the waiter as he leads them to a table right in the middle, where they can have a good view of the barista as he whips up cup after cup of delicious blends. He follows them, dragging the chair out noisily as he sits. 

“Okay, I’ll give it to you, this is a cool find.” 

“Told you.” Johnny peruses the menu for a bit longer, because he can’t decide between the usual eggs benedict or being a tad more adventurous with the smoked salmon and avocado mash. He hums in a low voice, stretching his foot out, accidentally brushing it against Jaehyun’s ankles. Jaehyun either doesn’t notice or doesn’t seem to mind, because he doesn’t make to move.

“You’ll want to try the mash, trust me,” Jaehyun pipes up suddenly, flicking the menu aimlessly because he’d already checked out the menu online. He signals for the waiter even though Johnny’s close to nowhere on making a decision. 

“Hey, wait, I –”

“Hi, we’ll have two avocado mashes, one iced Americano, and one macchiato, but lighter on the foam, please.” 

Jaehyun smiles sweetly at the waiter as he collects their menus, and something curdles in his belly. 

“Okay, wow, thanks for the Hobson’s choice.”

“Please. I know you were going to go for the eggs benedict. I’m here to put some zing in your life.”

“That mash had better be the best thing since sliced bread then, or you’re paying.”

The place is quiet for eleven am. Maybe not many people have heard about this place yet. Johnny lets his eyes rove over the other occupants, noting that people do actually dress up for brunch. He looks at the two of them, noting how Jaehyun had bothered to shuck on an oversized camel-coloured jacket over the plain white tee and acid-wash jeans. Johnny himself is in all black as usual, with a brown beaded bracelet around his right wrist the only thing adding a pop of colour to his otherwise drab outfit. 

“It is,” he insists, and it’s so indignant and so Jaehyun of him. 

“Have you been here already?” Johnny eyes him suspiciously. 

“If I had, would I have been begging you to take me here for the last two weeks?” 

“Look, I said I was sorry for cancelling last Saturday, alright? Joohyun was stressed about midterms and her ex and asked for my help.”

“J-Joohyun?” Jaehyun stutters out.

“Yeah. She just broke up with her boyfriend, so she asked if I could act as her rebound to piss her ex off.”

“Well, look at that. The great Johnny Seo, wound around the queen’s finger. You do know that you’re just another name to check off in her book, right?“ The words drip with a slight venom, and Johnny can’t place where it’s coming from exactly. 

“Of course I do. She’s like us, part of our little no-commitment club.”

A frown crosses Jaehyun’s face, splitting his usual easygoing smile into a purse. It’s so rare that Johnny himself is surprised that he put it there. “So what, you guys just spent the whole of last Saturday fucking?” 

“No, she invited me for study sessions too so that I could hold her cue cards while testing her on supply and demand diagrams and quantitative finance.” 

“Sexy,” Jaehyun quips, to lighten the dark clouds swirling above their heads, but he’s clearly still miffed about placing second to Joohyun, even though she is  _ Bae Joohyun _ . 

Johnny is about to call him out on his testiness, because he doesn’t get to be rude about who he sleeps with, but the waiter comes back just then, setting down their coffees with a tiny clatter.

“Would you like an appetiser to start with while waiting for your mains?” He’s looking at Jaehyun when he asks this, and Johnny doesn’t miss the flare of interest – he’s all too familiar with looks of longing thrown Jaehyun’s way every now and then.

“Want anything? Truffle fries?” Jaehyun pokes gently at his leg underneath the table and keeps his position where it rests just lightly against his calf. It’s warm, and his annoyance at his friend fizzles out to almost nothing, just like that. 

“Sweet potato fries,” Johnny says decisively instead, knowing it’s Jaehyun’s favourite. He gives a quick nod and short smile to the waiter – Seokmin, his name tag reads – and moves to take a sip of coffee to mask his grin at the wide, childlike smile beginning to bloom on Jaehyun’s face. 

Jaehyun shoots out a hand to stop him mid-air. “Wait, I want to take a picture of yours. Yuta’s going to flip when he sees that I made it here first.”

“Yuta?”

“Yeah. He’s been bugging me to come with him to check out some Chinese dude who works here part-time, but hell if I’m gonna play wingman my first trip here.”

Their usual light banter is back, and relief winds its way into his chest. 

“He‘s going to ask for your number by the time we leave,” Johnny predicts as he sneaks a conspiratorial glance back at their waiter, grin sliding onto his mouth. He retracts his hand, slouching back into his seat as he waits for him to finish. 

“He’s free to ask.” Jaehyun shrugs, tongue peeking out as he angles his phone to properly capture the foam art. The barista had made one of a cute cat with 3D ears.

Johnny doesn’t know why that answer annoys him, but it does. 

(The avocado mash is straight-up the best brunch dish he’s had so far.)

(Seokmin does ask for Jaehyun’s number while Johnny gets the check, and he watches as Jaehyun gives it without hesitation, and with a beautiful, electrifying smile.)

***

It’s already Thursday. If Johnny wanted to be a pessimist, then he’d say it was  _ only _ Thursday. 

He rubs his eyes roughly, and the arithmetic equations blur in front of him. This was only a semi-introductory class, but it was already proving draining. He’d gotten a miserable C in the midterm, and that. That was a no-no. Not if he wanted to play for the varsity basketball team.

He tosses his pen back onto the sheaf of papers on the desk. “I can’t do this.” He leans back against his swivel chair, head hanging upside down to look at Jaehyun.

Behind him, on the bed, Jaehyun is contradictorily soundless when he studies. A trail of neat handwriting flies across the ruled pages of his notebook. Unlike Johnny, Jaehyun doesn’t study with colour. It’s just notes upon notes of blue ink, but it works.

Unlike Johnny, Jaehyun has found his rhythm, like he has for most everything.

“How long are you going to spend staring at anatomies of people?” Johnny grumbles, and pitches a highlighter in his direction. It lands smack-dab in the centre of his textbook and he lets out a cheer.

“We have a test next week,” Jaehyun answers good-naturedly despite Johnny’s obvious grey mood. There’s a small smile when he removes the highlighter off his book, placing it gently next to the book.

“Okay, let me rephrase. How long are you going to spend staring at anatomies of people in a book when you have a live specimen here?”

Yeah, he actually used that cheesy line. 

“You’ll say anything right now, won’t you?” Jaehyun sighs, but he’s looked up from his book, which Johnny takes as a positive sign.

“Please, Jae? I’m sick of studying and I want you. Need you.”

He’s so fucking desperate now that he’s opened the dam of thoughts of taking Jaehyun on the bed. He’s in his usual dress-down attire of volleyball singlet and loose shorts, but Jaehyun has always managed to look enticing in anything.

“I really need to finish this chapter…” He sounds genuinely apologetic, but Johnny doesn’t want to care right now, not when he’s needy and full of pent-up frustration that he needs to release somewhere.

“Tomorrow. Finish it tomorrow,” he begs, coming over to the bed and crawling into his lap. He wraps both legs around his body, willing him with every part of his body to say yes and sweep his books to the floor and kiss him.

“John…” But then he’s tilting his chin up and meeting his lips. 

They kiss like that for a while, just Johnny balanced on his lap, limbs wound like a koala around Jaehyun as Jaehyun takes the lead, curling his tongue into Johnny’s mouth. 

He toys with the edge of his shirt, lightly tracing his stomach. Johnny feels the slight shudder that wracks through him at this tiny touch, feels his stomach tightening and caving in when he slides his fingers up.

“God you taste so good,” Johnny whispers. Like sweet, sweet oranges. He sucks harder on his tongue. “Why can’t everyone taste as good as you?”

Jaehyun stills. Breaks the kiss and pushes Johnny off of him.

“Jae, what –” He crowds back into his space and tries to draw him back, but he’s stopped with a firm hand against his chest. 

“Could you. Not. Talk about your other fucks when we’re together?” He growls each word out through gritted teeth. 

“I quite literally didn’t mention anyone else, Jung. Besides, I thought we were open about our open relationships.” 

“We are. But you don’t have to shove it into my face when we’re making out!”

Johnny’s eyes darken and narrow, and this time he’s the one who pushes off from Jaehyun. “ _ What _ is your problem lately? You’re the one who suggested this in the first place.” He flings his hand out to gesture to nothing in particular at the word  _ this _ .

There’s an uncharacteristically coldness to his voice. Jaehyun’s been too on edge in recent weeks, and it was honest-to-god pissing him off. 

“I don’t.” Jaehyun pauses to take a breath through his nose. He runs his hand up and down his face, scrubbing at his eyes. “I don’t know. I just. I’m just tired from all the cramming. Is it okay if we just stop tonight?”

Jaehyun has said no before – heck they’ve both said no to each other before  – but this feels different. He’s not in the proper frame of mind to piece it apart, but he thinks he catches glimmers of tears brimming in Jaehyun’s eyes.

“Alright,” Johnny says, whispering it. As if some invisible glass between them would shatter if he didn’t. “Goodnight.”

He shuffles off the bed.

“I’m going to go see if Joohyun is busy.”

***

“Tell me how she was,” Jaehyun demands in-between kisses. 

They’re on Johnny’s bed, again, passing a joint between each other, taking turns to try to release a successful O ring of smoke. Neither of them have succeeded yet. Johnny thinks Jaehyun will win.

Neither of them talk about last week. But then again, they don’t really have to. There’s no reason to fight, because you only fight over things that you want to protect or keep, and neither of them mean that way to each other.

“What are you talking about?” Johnny’s mouth forms an O, but only a shadow of a semicircle is ultimately released. Yup, definitely Jaehyun. 

“Joohyun. I wanna know all about the famous Joohyun. Is she that good in bed? Is it true that she has a tattoo above her pelvis? I still can’t believe you’re getting a taste of her, you lucky bastard.” Somehow, Johnny realises that there’s no bite to his words, almost as if he’s saying it because it’s what everyone else has been saying too.

Johnny laughs, made visible with a puff of white smoke accompanying it. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

“No? So you don’t talk about me to others? To Yongsun? To Taeyong?”

Jaehyun snatches the thin joint from his fingers, inhaling deeply before climbing into the space between Johnny’s legs, pushing Johnny down until he’s lying on top of him, positioning his mouth over Johnny’s.

He blows the smoke in, white tendrils curling and floating past his lips before Jaehyun seals them with his own. There’s a choked sound underneath him, but Johnny slides his hand up onto Jaehyun’s nape, holding him in place as he breathes Jaehyun in. Orange and the weed’s sickly sweet scent intersperse.

It’s an exercise in restraint. Refusing Jaehyun. Submitting to the high. Both. 

“How’s Seokmin,” he asks this into the juncture where neck meets shoulder, giving soft kitten licks where his tongue can reach. 

“Seokmin?” 

“Yeah, Seokmin. Haven’t you guys been texting and hanging out a lot lately?”

Jaehyun shifts himself until his legs are bracketing Johnny’s thighs and collapses back into him. He nudges Johnny’s free hand impatiently, and Johnny obeys instinctively, wrapping a hand around his lower back. 

“He’s fun. Really sweet. He has a mole on his neck. When he screams –”

“ _ Okay _ , too much information,” Johnny says, wheezing out a weak chuckle with Jaehyun’s full weight atop him. He tightens his hold around Jaehyun with a squeeze.  _ Want you _ , he conveys.  _ Need you _ . 

“Tell me,” Jaehyun insists again. He scrapes his teeth on Johnny’s ear while pressing his whole body flush against Johnny’s. God. 

“Kiss me.”

“Johnny.”

He pulls back from his neck, tugging lightly at his hair so that he can meet his eyes. “I thought you didn’t like me talking about anyone else when I’m with you.”

Guilt floods Jaehyun’s face immediately. He winds his hands around his neck, thumbs playing a nervous beat on his pulse. 

“I’m sorry about last week. I was being weird. I don’t know why I said those things, I’ve just been so stressed –”

“Hey, it’s okay,” he soothes, ruffling his hair. “It’s okay. You did well on your exams though, right? Doyoung said he’s really proud of how much you’ve improved over the tutoring sessions.”

“I – You’ve been talking to Doyoung?”

“Yeah, I asked him because you were cooped up in the library up until last week, and I wanted to make sure you hadn’t died there and begun haunting the entire student body.”

Jaehyun punches him hard in the gut while simultaneously nosing into his neck, licking the skin there. “Asshole.”

He trails a hand under his shirt, feeling the knobs of his spine against smooth, smooth skin. He lifts the flimsy material up, bunching it further as he explores the ridges of his backbone, his ribcage. A small sigh escapes Jaehyun as he kneads the skin.

“Admit it, you’re touched.” 

Jaehyun doesn’t answer, merely kisses him on the shoulder. 

Johnny angles them both until they’re sitting up, pushing the shirt up further to get to his shoulders. The position is awkward because he’s massaging him while still facing him. He wants to see his face contort into one of pleasure or a wince as his fingers continue their exploration. But Jaehyun’s simply moved to hooking his chin over his shoulder, body going completely lax in his arms. 

“God, your back is so stiff. Doyoung really wasn’t kidding when he said he saw you stress-crying.”

“I didn’t cry –” He begins huffily, but Johnny shuts him up with a quick kiss. 

“Do you or do you not want me to continue massaging you?”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes but slinks back into position, resting his whole body on Johnny’s while he brings the joint to his lips. He puffs out a successful O over Johnny’s shoulder, but wedges himself deeper into his roommate’s chest in favour of not disturbing the quiet hum that’s settled between them with a celebratory whoop.

***

Sometimes, when he’s a little more free, Johnny likes to head out into the city to film vlogs on himself discovering Chicago. 

He’d asked Yuta to come along, because he’d recently dyed his hair a startling white, and therefore made the perfect model for today’s shoot at the Bean. 

Yuta is eye-catching in a soft, light pink jacket over a white tee and loose grey slacks. His hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, stray white locks cascading in wisps over his eyes. It’s every bit the avant-garde texture that Johnny was going for, and beautifully juxtaposed against the steel structure in the centre of Millennium Park. 

Johnny himself is dressed a little more like how the film major that he is should dress – a red knit top with capped sleeves, with beige slacks to match. Artsy, playful, carefree.

They’ve finished a series of shots – a little GQ, a little Rolling Stones – and Johnny realises that they’re not so far from the pretty little cafe he and Jaehyun had gone to all those weeks ago. His heart skips when he sees the tresses of leaves peeking out from his view, and then he remembers Jaehyun’s warm smile, Seokmin’s elated one, and a sinking feeling washes over him. Like his heart is drenched in a bed of ice, deep in his belly. 

“Hey, Yuta?” He fiddles with the straps around his camera, looking anywhere but at his friend. 

“Hmm?” 

“Can I ask you a question?” 

“Sure.” He does a dance along the steps beyond the structure, purposefully teetering on the edge of the last one before jumping dramatically off. 

“You know that Jaehyun and I are...”

“Fuck buddies?”

God, it sounds vulgar when Yuta says it, but he forges on. 

“Uh, yeah. So like, me sleeping with Jae doesn’t make me, like, gay, right?”

He sees a dangerous glare forming.

“I mean, we kiss and fuck, but we’re not exclusive! It’s –”

“If you dare say ‘ _ no homo, bro _ ’ I swear I’ll burn all those stupid Hawaiian shirts,” Yuta says, voice deadpan and yet hard all at the same time. 

“Look, I just. He’s been so touchy lately, and he’s always in some sort of mood. He wants to know about my other fuckbuddies, but at the same time he rips into me when I start talking about them. Then we make out or have sex the next day like nothing ever happened and I feel like I’m constantly walking on eggshells. It’s a fucking landmine, dude.”

Yuta doesn’t say anything, a sign that he’s listening. 

“He’s a good friend, and I’m fucking lucky that I got him as a roommate. But lately everything’s just. Strange? He’s been acting differently. More snappy. But also quieter. I’m so confused.” He plops down onto the steps and sinks his head into his hands. Yuta doesn’t sit, likely worried he’ll stain his precious trousers.

“Have you asked him about who else he’s seeing?”

“A little? I don’t want to look like I’m prying or jealous.”

“But are you? Would you be okay if, hypothetically, you actually liked him as more than just a friend?” He knows that Yuta understands the gravity of the situation by how he keeps running his fingers through his hair, patting the fringe down despite the futility of it all – Chicago’s the Windy City, after all. “Don’t answer me just yet – I think you need to think about this properly.”

“He told me about Seokmin?” Johnny says instead. “They’ve been sleeping together.”

“Wait, the guy from the cafe?” Yuta whips his head sharply to face him. “No way. Jae told me that they’ve only been texting occasionally. He said he wasn’t really interested.”

“No,” Johnny furrows his eyebrows, remembering a conversation over billowed smoke and intertwined limbs on soft cotton sheets. “No, he told me he slept with him.”

“Well, Jung Jaehyun is lying his ass off. I was sitting right next to him when I asked him when they’d had sex and he straight up said he wasn’t planning to ever. And then he blew him off for a dinner thing after he got a text from you asking for a second opinion on your stupid project for Prof. Do. And I know for a fact that that’s only due next month.”

Johnny lets this new information sink in, but he doesn’t know quite what to do with it. 

“I don’t not like him.” He tries again. “I’ve never really thought about stuff like labelling or gender identity because it’s not important to me. I just. I like who I like. Fuck who I fuck. You know?”

Yuta does know. “How about this. Forget about gay or bi or straight stuff. Do you like Jaehyun as more than just a friend? And more than just some friend with benefits? I think those are the more important questions to ask yourself. The rest don’t really matter.”

Johnny mulls it over. He’s glad that Yuta just stands there, completely non-judgemental, and gives him time to answer. “Maybe. I don’t know, but maybe.”

Yuta groans. “God, okay, but that’s a start. Now I need a coffee. Can we go to a Starbucks.”

“Okay yeah sure, but Yuta –”

“Is it true that Joohyun has a tattoo above her pelvis?”

“What the fuck,” he grumbles out, keeping his eyes closed. “Yes. Now can we get back to the subject at hand, please?”

“What, you mean your gay crisis with Jaehyun? Just talk to him and put a ring on it already. That’s my advice. He’s so in love with you. You’re so in love with him. End of story.”

“He’s not. He’s not in love with me.” He shoots back, more a reflex answer than a true one. 

Yuta cocks his head to the side. 

“I’m not in love with him either!”

“Just think about it, Seo. Think, and talk. Soon.” He pats his shoulder twice, and leaps off the stairs. 

***

There’s nothing to it really. Asking Jaehyun. Laying all the confusion out there. And yet, it’s everything. 

_ “He’s so in love with you, I don’t know how you can’t see that.” _

Honestly, Johnny can’t. 

The door to Johnny’s bedroom opens, Jaehyun joining Johnny on the bed as is customary. Jaehyun’s rarely slept in his own bed since they’d begun messing around with each other, which made sense. Even before they’d started this, whatever it was, Jaehyun had always managed to angle his way into studying there, only to fall asleep over his books and be an immovable deadweight. Now that he thinks about it, that had probably been on purpose. Little shit indeed. 

“Hey.” Johnny waves two fingers from where he’s sprawled on the bed.

“God, I’m so tired. Can we order take-out today?”

Jaehyun follows the greeting with a roll so that he’s pressed nose-first into Johnny’s hair. He breathes him in, but wrinkles his nose when spicy scents of cedar and tarragon hit him. 

“You’re wearing your Eau Fraiche,” he murmurs. Johnny only wears that fragrance when he has a long – read: wild – night ahead of him. Of course Jaehyun would know this, he’s been present at most of those parties himself.

Nervousness plucks at his belly as Jaehyun’s nose tickles his nape, but he settles for a simple, non-revealing  _ mmm _ .

“Where are you going.” He slides an arm over his stomach, pulling him into his chest.

_ “ _ Minghao’s,” he sighs. “Joohyun was invited, so I am too.”

“You sound really excited about it,” Jaehyun notes wryly, and Johnny coughs out a laugh. 

“Just not really feeling in the partying mood. But ugh, I’ve still got forty-five minutes to get changed and get there on time.”

“You’re not picking Joohyun up?” 

“What? No. Those are  _ boyfriend _ duties. Besides, she drives. God that makes her even hotter.” He presses back into Jaehyun, and the ensuing silence causes their eyes to flutter closed. They drift in and out of sleep like this, Johnny’s back to Jaehyun’s chest, and the peace is welcome. Johnny half-wishes he didn’t need to move.

His phone buzzes, and he rises groggily from the bed, Jaehyun’s arm dropping limply from around his waist. He mumbles something incoherent, and Johnny resists the urge to brush his fingers over his hair, tuck it behind his ear.

“Okay.” He slaps both his cheeks. “Gotta get changed.”

“Come back here,” Jaehyun whines, arm reaching out into the recently vacated space. “S’cold.”

“Sorry, no can do. If I go back there, I’m never getting back up.”

He pulls off his tee and hunts for a suitable article of clothing in his double-door wardrobe (thank you again, Sehun-hyung). He comes back wearing a pair of tight jeans, a white mesh shirt and a long-sleeved blue Hawaiian blouse with white stripes coming down the middle.

Jaehyun sits up. “You are  _ not _ wearing that.” A scandalous expression is pasted on his face.

“Uh, yes I am.” He squirts a dollop of pomade onto his palm to style his hair up and back. “Minghao’s party, remember? I think he wants to take some videos of us by the pool.” Minghao was a film major too.

“Is it just gonna be a bunch of film majors?” 

“Don’t know. Minghao’s house is so big that you probably never even come across half the people who go. Now that you mention it, I’ve been going there for so long, but I always see the same people. Huh.” 

“Do you…have to go?” He looks so small all curled up on the huge bed.

Johnny stills.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just thought it’d be nice if we could just. Hang out together. You know, as roommates.”

It’s the twinge of sadness he detects in his voice that makes Johnny slide back into the bed. He faces Jaehyun, cupping his cheek softly. 

“What’s wrong. And don’t lie.”

“Nothing. I’m not.” Jaehyun turns his face away, but it’s not in time to hide the sheen of tears threatening to spill over.

“Stop lying.”

“I’m not lying. I’m just tired.” 

God, this age-old excuse is wearing thin.

“You lied about sleeping with Seokmin.” Johnny phrases it like a matter-of-fact, instead of an accusation. He hopes that Jaehyun realises this, somehow. “C’mon, Jae.”

Jaehyun’s eyes shoot up at that, fresh tears glittering on his lashes. He’s still stubbornly holding them in, hands clenched tightly by his sides, teeth biting into his bottom lip in an effort to control the tremors.

They don’t say anything at all; Jaehyun doesn’t deny it, and Johnny doesn’t push. But it’s exactly this that tempts him to kiss him, and so he draws Jaehyun to him and does exactly that. It’s chaste, but Jaehyun chases after him when he pulls back, lips and cheeks pink, eyes shining, and Johnny knows he’s fucked.

“Baby,” Johnny murmurs, the name coming out of nowhere, licking his neck and biting down hard. Jaehyun’s breaths are already ragged, and his voice cracks mid-sob at the pet name. 

He clutches his arms, fingers digging hard into the skin there as Johnny sucks hard on where he's bitten down. “Johnny.  _ Johnny _ .”

“How long.” He pulls away reluctantly, because they have things to talk about, issues to sort through. He just wants to take him into his arms, but then he remembers his conversation with Yuta and he knows they need to barrel through this. 

“How long have you liked me, Jae?”

A short burst of terror flashes across his eyes before he squeezes them shut, and he sees a million cogs spinning furiously in his head.  _ Dear god, he thinks he’s the only one. _

Fuck it, Johnny thinks, and throws all caution to the wind.

“I like you too. Fuck, no, I’m in love with you.” The words tumble out in a rush. “Jaehyun. Jaehyun, I love you.”

“What?” Jaehyun’s words are thick with shock. He’s so gentle inside, and Johnny can’t believe that he’s only noticing this now. God, he really had been blind.

“Jaehyun, look at me.” But Jaehyun only sobs harder, tears finally trickling down in quick, steady rivulets down his cheeks. “I want you. Just you. No one else.”

“Why’d you have to go and say it like that?” It comes out choppy as he tries to speak around the bubble in his throat. 

“But it’s true.”

“I wanted...” Jaehyun wipes the salty tears messily, raising a hand to brush a wet thumb across the apple of his cheek. “I wanted to be the one to say it to you first.” He breathes out a tiny laugh and bumps their foreheads together so that Jaehyun can speak his next words into his mouth.

“I like you. No, I love you, Johnny Seo, you big bird brain. Fuck I – I haven’t liked anyone or wanted anyone else since I saw you at initiation last year.”

That long ago. Well. Time to make up for lost time. 

Johnny pulls Jaehyun back down, rolling them until he’s got him pinned by the wrists. He’s so beautiful. Johnny doesn’t want to share him anymore. He leans down to kiss him deeply, Jaehyun opening up for him and returning each kiss with fervour, giving short little hiccups each time Johnny presses into the sweet spot just below his ribcage.

“Johnny,” he gasps, threading his fingers into his hair, pulling them impossibly closer. Wraps both legs around him. “ _ Please. _ ”

This is subterfuge. It has to be, because Jaehyun can’t not know the effect he has on him, has always had on him.

It’s an unspoken conversation that passes between them – fingers skittering up a thigh (need you here), a kiss to a shoulder (thank you), intertwined fingers (I’m here, I’ve got you), and a squeeze of a hand, just once, but enough to convey a single message (I love you) – it’s their own rhapsody that they’ve devised for themselves, playing it to the tune of their own bodies, mapped out a hundred times over, committed to memory. 

Johnny wakes with a warm body curled obnoxiously tightly around him, brown hair peeking out from the covers. He grins, pressing a kiss to the tuft, breathing in oranges as the early morning sunlight filters through. 

Jaehyun stirs at the slight touch, brushing his lips over Johnny’s bare skin.

“Brunch?” Johnny whispers, wiggling his eyebrows.

“One hour,” he mumbles, burrowing back into the cover of darkness and warmth of Johnny’s arms.

“I love you,” Johnny says as his way of agreeing, and slips back to sleep with the scent of oranges dancing in the air and Jaehyun’s fingers sliding into his palm to give him a gentle squeeze.

**Author's Note:**

> hawaiian shirts should be burned. but i have to admit that johnjae made the look super hot. hot enough that this fic was born, in the words of moonfleur. i love you and i hope you like this<3
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/moonkyoung_)


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